Mistrial declared in Jodi Arias penalty phase

May 24, 2013
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Jodi Arias stands as the jury enters the courtroom on Wednesday, May 22, 2013, during the penalty phase of her murder trial at Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix. / Rob Schumacher, The Arizona Republic

by Michael Kiefer and Gary Strauss, USA TODAY

by Michael Kiefer and Gary Strauss, USA TODAY

PHOENIX - A Maricopa County Court jury was unable to agree on a sentence for convicted murderer Jodi Arias, prompting a judge Thursday to declare a mistrial in the sentencing phase of the case.

The jury had deliberated nearly 14 hours over three days to determine if Arias, 32, should be sentenced to life imprisonment or sentenced to death. Judge Sherry Stephens said a new jury would be convened in the case on July 18. Arias, who was in tears earlier, breathed a sigh of relief.

"This was not your typical trial," the judge told jurors. "You were asked to perform some very difficult duties."

The guilty verdict against Arias came down May 8. A week later, the same jury found that the murder was especially cruel, making Arias eligible for the death penalty. During the sentencing hearing, Arias pleaded for mercy, saying she would live a valuable life in prison.

Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery thanked jurors in a statement. "We appreciate the jury's work in the guilt and aggravation phases of the trial, and now we will assess, based upon available information, what the next steps will be,'' he said.

Montgomery aid a status hearing has been set for June 20, "and we will proceed with the intent to retry the penalty phase."

Travis Alexander, 30, had been dead five days when friends found his decomposing body in the shower of his Mesa, Ariz., home in 2008. He'd been shot in the head, stabbed nearly 30 times, and his throat was slit, though the defense and prosecution debated the order in which he'd received those wounds.

The trial began Jan. 2, and over several months, the jury saw gruesome crime scene photos and salacious nude photos that Alexander and Arias, 32, took of each other on the day of the murder. The last three photos on Alexander's camera, which was found in his washing machine, had been taken over a span of one minute and 45 seconds. In the third from the last, he was alive and sitting in his shower; in the last, he was on the floor and bleeding.

Arias claimed she killed Alexander in self-defense after he attacked her when she dropped his camera. She claimed not to remember details of the killing beyond shooting Alexander in the head.

Over the next 4½ years, right up to the week they began to select a jury in December 2012, defense attorneys battled with prosecutor Juan Martinez over access to evidence.

Martinez said Arias killed Alexander out of jealousy. He built a case for premeditation, claiming she had stolen the gun from her grandfather's house in California, dyed her hair to disguise herself, then rented a car and brought along gas cans to cover her tracks in Arizona.

Deliberations in the sentencing phase of the case began at about 9:45 a.m. local time but were interrupted about an hour and a half later when the jury brought a question to the court. Attorneys conferred privately with the judge, and an answer was sent back to the panel. The details of their question were not made public.

Under Arizona law, a hung jury in the death penalty phase of a trial requires a new jury to be seated to decide the punishment. If the second jury cannot reach a unanimous decision, the judge would then sentence Arias to spend her entire life in prison or be eligible for release after 25 years.

In the event of a hung jury, a mistrial of the penalty phase would be declared, and the case could drag on for several more months, said former Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley.

The murder conviction would stand as the new jurors consider only the sentence. But they would have to review evidence and hear opening statements, closing arguments and witness testimony in a "Cliffs Notes" version of the trial, Romley said.